Atomico VCs say that “everybody cares” in Europe about where the startup dollars are coming from
0Reported today on TechCrunch
For the full article visit: https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/11/atomico-vcs-say-that-everybody-cares-in-europe-about-where-the-startup-dollars-are-coming-from/
Atomico VCs say that "everybody cares" in Europe about where the startup dollars are coming from
Today, on stage at TechCrunch Berlin, four of Atomico's most senior partners took the stage together for the first time, flying into the city from London, Stockholm, and Geneva to talk about a wide range of issues. Among the many things we discussed were direct listings, secondary investments, and the firm's sweet spot, which, despite its global reach, largely remains on pan-European companies and largely startups needing Series A stage funding, to which Atomico typically writes checks of between $5 million and $15 million in exchange for an ownership stake of between 15 and 20 percent.
We also spent some time talking about the changing complexion of investors in Europe, where pension funds contributed just $902 million of the roughly $13 billion that investment firms in Europe raised last year, according to Atomico's own research - and we discussed why more money came from outside of Europe to fund regional startups than within it.
We're zooming in on that part of the conversation for readers; if you missed our discussion and would like to check out other parts of it, you can find it below or read the transcript here.
TC: It was surprising to read in your recent state of European tech report that pension funds don't account for more of the money being raised by venture firms, that much more of the funding continues to come from family offices and high net-worth individuals. Is the problem structural? Is it cultural?
HT: I think the world is waking up to the fact that European venture has comparative performance today with U.S. venture returns. There's research in that area that's relatively authoritative in that area.
As a function that yes